


An Axe, a Pine Tree, A Campfire Story

by Missy



Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Genre: Curses, Gen, Mild Horror, Self-Blame, Trick or Treat: Trick, Urban Legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27173261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: Beware the wolf woman.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 18
Collections: Trick or Treat Exchange 2020





	An Axe, a Pine Tree, A Campfire Story

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kitsunerei88](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitsunerei88/gifts).



Don’t go into the woods at night. There is a wolf woman there with a sharp axe in her hand. Her skin swathed in fur and her eyes cold as steel, she watches out for the face of the one who harmed her.

They say she’s looking for the wolf who hurt her grandmother in the dead of night – that she’s been looking for eternity, and will probably look forever. It was centuries ago that it happened, and she will blame herself for everything, until the sun finally sets beyond the mountains for all time, blood red and shining over with pearly dew.

Step by step, footfall by footfall, she makes her way to the center of the woods and back again, dealing with the curse by guarding the rest of the forest against those who would prey on its creatures. She climbs the trees, rough limbs scraping at her legs and scratching at her knees, so she can see every inch of the forest, her hand pressed to her forehead, neck swiveling to follow the cracking of a branch or an animal’s cry.

She builds fires, cooks small meals. Keeps an eye on the skies to avoid the rain and the snow. Sometimes you can spy her at the side of the creek, axe beside her, a line in the water trying to pull up fish. They never see her eat, but they always smell the fire, the fat wood burning bright and beautiful. They say that if you get close enough she’ll give you a dimpled smile. But after that…

….There are rumors about the axe, but no one’s ever come back to tell tales about it. 

So, don’t go into the woods at night. You never know what might happen when you’re among strangers. And you wouldn’t want to be mistaken for a wolf.


End file.
